You sound like an american through and through. The culture of spending more that they can really afford is what got the US economy in the shitbox its in at the moment. "Everything on credit" is just fine till you have to pay the bill, and you DO have to pay the bills. I see it on AI consistently. People talk about "free iphones" as if it's something that exists. Remember "there's NO FREE LUNCH". So seducing people to buy hi-tech toys that the can't afford is like selling crack on the street-corner.

Like it or not, Apple is a commodity producer. Their products are toys. Nice toys perhaps. They are no the slightest bit "elite" or exclusive. There is nothing exclusive about having a toy that every kid on the block has. That's the difference between Ferrari and Porsche, or perhaps Rolls-Royce and Cadillac (or whatever). It's the difference between a suite "off the hook" and a tailored suit. So if they want to be "elite" and "exclusive" then they should simply increase the price of the Iphone ... say 100 x, so that only the rich can afford it. In that segment, performance and tech doesn't matter a hoot. Exclusivity and "style" are where its at. A rolex oyster is expensive, but by no means the "best" watch on the market.

So it's Apple's call. If they want to be a commodity, then that's fine. Its money in the bank. But they have already lost the race in terms of being "cutting edge tech", and sure as hell have lost their "exclusivity".

Not sure if you mean this as an insult to the United States or not. Do you mean buying more than you can afford as being an American ideal? As opposed to Greece, Ireland, Italy, or Spain? Seems more of a European idea to me.

Well, at least TWO of the usual suspects agreed with Sculley that Apple should 'diversify' and and sell cheap phones to poor countries, lest they lose the race to the bottom like they did in the PC market.

Apple doesn't sell just one type of computer, and sooner or later they'll start diversifying their phones as well.

Apple is too big and too smart to cede so much of the market to competitors. I'm surprised so many here underestimate Apple's scope.

Such last-century thinking.

Apple doesn't sell just one type of mobile device, either. They have MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, iPads, iPad minis, iPhone 4, 4S & 5, and an array of iPods. Even more diversity than looking at it by "computers". Yet, the one thing none of these displays of diversity does not show is a pandering to the expectations of analysts, nor a participation in a commodity market.

This call for Apple to enter the cheap "smartphone" market is just netbooks revisited. An insistence that they must enter a market with no profits simply because "everyone" is doing it. Apple is too smart to cede its business strategy to analysts. I'm surprised so many keep repeating the mistaken ideas of the past.

You have to give Gil at least a little credit for saving Apple. He did pay NeXT to acquire Apple, and afterward, if he had had any clue what he was doing and been able to hang on to his job, things might have been very different.

Sculley probably gets more blame than he deserves for Apple's missteps in the late 80's/early 90's time frame. Granted by the time he was forced out, Apple should have seen the writing on the wall and changed course. Instead they hired one idiot (who, aside from the transition to Power PC was completely incompetent) and then another (whose only saving grace was that he had the foresight to buy NeXT and bring Steve back). You would think that Amelio would have known better having been at Bell, Fairchild, and National Semi and understood the needs of Apple's customers, but he wasted it all and basically orchestrated his own departure by bringing Steve back to advise the company.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conrail

Can't wait until Apple announces a cheaper phone for emerging markets, so I can hear all the experts hear talk about what a great idea it is, and how important emerging markets are, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by charlituna

Where exactly are these emerging markets that insist on buying no contract phones for no more than $200.

Asia? Well something like 60% of the resellers buying phones in the US to 'grey market' are sending them to China. Where they are sold for full price plus in droves.

Russia, Poland etc? Apparently that's 25-30% of the resellers, same game

So where's this market that won't buy these 'too expensive' iPhones

What is the reason for Apple's continued fascination with markets like China, India, etc? Granted, they are huge opportunities to gain share, but to large segments of the population, Apple is not even an option. The entire market is so focused on price that it almost seems foolish to pursue. Some of the people in these places do not earn enough in their entire working lives to afford even one Apple product, hence the gray market which has any combination of real phones being resold or knockoffs that are made so cheap that it's a miracle they work at all.

What is the reason for Apple's continued fascination with markets like China, India, etc? Granted, they are huge opportunities to gain share, but to large segments of the population, Apple is not even an option. The entire market is so focused on price that it almost seems foolish to pursue. Some of the people in these places do not earn enough in their entire working lives to afford even one Apple product, hence the gray market which has any combination of real phones being resold or knockoffs that are made so cheap that it's a miracle they work at all.

Having a smaller percentage or wealthy or having a much larger percentage of poor does not mean they don't have a huge number of people that can easily afford Apple's products. Asia-Pacifici now has more millions (based on USD) than the US.

This bot has been removed from circulation due to a malfunctioning morality chip.

This guy suffers from Pepsi Brain Rot disease. Who in the world cares what John Sculley has to say about anything little less Apple Products. He damned near ruined Apple. Apple wants clean, highly engineered, quality products, not cheap crap that others might like to have so nay, nay on cheap iPhones. Let the rest of the world "catch the vision or catch the bus!"

Smartphones are becoming a commodity, regardless if Apple doesn't want that to happen. Apple created the market, now others are moving in. larger screens, lower cost, Apple cannot sit still and proudly wave their iPhone and take the intellectual high ground while others each up their market share. Apple needs to keep people in their ecosystem, offering great products, but recognizing that a vast number of people can't afford the "very best." They need to keep people buying on iTunes and the rest of their stores. The formula for success is now obvious to others and Apple needs to compete. And I watched Sculley almost destroy Apple, but he has a point to make here that others have pointed out as well.